The Desolation by Andrew Gillsmith

In a future Holy Land, shattered and rendered uninhabitable by a mysterious scourge, pilgrims come to die. Their reasons vary. Some come out of despair. Others to make a holy death or simply to lay down the burden of living. Some few come seeking either illumination or penance. The Desolation is a tale told in three parts: The Jerusalem Passage, The House of the Four Last Things, and The Eight Sacrament. It follows the stories of several pilgrims, each led by a strange wanderer who is somehow immune to the effects of the plague afflicting the Holy Land. A blend of Lovecraftian horror and the raw metaphysics of Dostoevsky, the book asks more questions than it answers. What are the limits of divine and human mercy? Are some sins unpardonable? Can grace transform even an undead conscience? For fans of Gene Wolfe, Mary Doria Russell, and CS Lewis.

The Final Season by Andrew Gillsmith

For fans of Douglas Adams and PG Wodehouse. It’s one thing to know that the End is coming, quite another to know the exact date and time right down to the nanosecond. Such is the unhappy fate of the inhabitants of Rexos-4, a once-thriving planet that has lived under the doom of an inevitable apocalypse for millenia. Their entire philosophy of life may be summed up by the phrase “Mxtlpicam’ bnak ooligapn,” which in most languages translates to something along the lines of “What’s the bloody point?” Unbeknownst to the poor Rexans, their predicament has also been the subject of the longest-running and most successful reality television series in galactic history, now translated into over 200 million languages, with closed captioning. With the end of the world just around the corner, the show is entering its all-important final season. Everyone knows how difficult it is to pull off a satisfying finale–such stakes fill even the most hard-boiled Gallywood executives with fear and trembling. Join Gumpilos Tfliximop, Elvie Renfro, Rufus Camford and a cast of colorful characters as they battle the notorious showrunner (and subverter of expectations) Betty Neezquaff, all while tackling the big questions of life’s meaning and purpose with wit, warmth, and–dare I say–optimism. The Final Season is The Truman Show meets the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, with just a dash of PG Wodehouse.

A Cloud of Unknowing by Andrew Gillsmith

"The universe requires sacrifice. It always has, and it always will, because the universe is sacramental." Broken and scattered, the survivors of the strange events in the Taklamakan Desert are trying to make sense of what happened while the rest of the world tries to recover its balance by scapegoating the artilects. The Process--an ancient, alchemical plan to transform human consciousness--goes far deeper than anyone thought, and only the artificial magnetic shield developed by astrophysicist Sarah Baumgartner is preventing the newly transhuman Ralph Channing from fulfilling it. The Lucifer Particles, a mysterious high-energy flux that seems to originate from beyond spacetime itself, may hold the answers, but the path to understanding leads through the strange, sub-quantum world of the Holomovement, guarded by the secretive scientific cult known as the Divers. And the price of understanding might be Sarah's soul itself. In Rome, the Princes of the Church converge to elect a new Pope. Cardinal Marco Leone does everything in his power to stop the rise of his rival, the worldly and cunning Leo Pensabene, while Father Gabriel Serafian, an exorcist and former neuroscientist, is drawn even deeper into a conspiracy of global--and possibly supernatural--dimensions. Confusion reigns. New discoveries threaten the very foundations of both science and faith. A cloud of unknowing has descended upon the world. Meanwhile, visions of a young Chinese girl who died in the concentration camps decades ago point to a way forward...

Our Lady of the Artilects by Andrew Gillsmith

SPSFC 2023 SPSFC 2024

World leaders are on edge when reports start coming in of next generation androids having strange, apocalyptic visions of a lady in white. But when an Artilect belonging to the wealthiest man in Africa shows up at Our Lady of Nigeria basilica claiming to be possessed, the stakes are raised. The Vatican sends Father Gabriel Serafian, an exorcist who left behind a brilliant career as a neuroscientist, to Benin City to investigate...and to figure out who is behind what must surely be a hack. The timing couldn't be worse. Rome is on the verge of reconciliation with the Chinese Economic Interest Zone after a 50 year cold war, and the Chinese are particularly sensitive about the so-called Apparition. Serafian quickly finds himself caught up in a conspiracy of global--and possibly supernatural--dimensions. To discover the truth and save not only humanity but the artilects themselves, Serafian enlists the aid of a tough-as-nails Imperial Praetor named Namono Mbambu. Serafian and Mbambu are helped by a guilt-wracked Filipino Emperor, a taciturn Caliph, and a Uyghur Sufi named Ilham Tiliwadi as they race against time to stop a centuries-old plot that could end humanity as we know it. Our Lady of the Artilects is a mind-bending supernatural science fiction novel where "The Exorcist" meets "Westworld,” with a light dusting of Snow Crash!